


The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze

by FleetSparrow



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, I might actually continue this one day, Never Adopted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23584921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleetSparrow/pseuds/FleetSparrow
Summary: Bruce takes Damian to his first circus.  They both find themselves smitten with the last Flying Grayson.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne
Comments: 4
Kudos: 97
Collections: Dick Grayson Week 2020





	The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trapeze

**Author's Note:**

> For Dick Grayson Week. Prompt: Never Adopted

_Dick Grayson_  
_The Last Flying Grayson_

Bruce looked over the circus poster with a bittersweet nostalgia. He remembered going to the circus when the Flying Graysons came into town the last time. It turned out to be one of their last performances. An accident in Metropolis had cost the parents their lives. He’d never really followed up on what had happened to the boy afterward, but it seemed like he had done all right if he was still performing with the circus.

“Damian,” Bruce called, carrying the flyer with him. He found his son in one of the parlors, sketching their dog as he slept by the empty fireplace.

“Damian. We’re going to the circus tonight,” Bruce said.

Damian scoffed, not looking up from his drawing. “I’m thirteen, Father, not a child to be placated by a circus show.”

“It wasn’t an invitation, Damian.”

“Fine. If it makes you happy.”

“It will. Now, finish up and get ready. Alfred will have dinner on soon.”

Damian rolled his eyes. “Yes, Father.”

After dinner, the chauffeur drove the two of them out to the circus grounds. The circus was bustling with Gotham families out for the evening. Damian was drawn to the animals in their pens and Bruce let himself be guided through the crowds by his son. An announcement cut through the noise that it was almost time for the main event, and so Bruce led Damian to their seats. Damian was complaining about the state of the animals—”They may look fine, Father, but it’s monstrous to treat animals that way.”—when the show began. Bruce found himself watching Damian half the time during the show, silently sighing to himself at his son’s boredom. Perhaps it was a new time. The circus wasn’t what it used to be when he was younger.

The lights went out and suddenly a spot light shone up high in the tent. A young man stood on a platform high above the ground. Another light shone on a trapeze hanging from the middle of the tent. A third shone on the platform far on the other side.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Presenting the last of the Flying Graysons, performing without a net, his death-defying flight, Dick Grayson!”

The entire tent was silent as the young man took his place, trapeze in hand. He leapt off the platform, swinging once, twice, three times until he let go, arcing across the top of the tent to catch the middle trapeze. He swung again, reaching the opposite platform. The trapezes behind him swung back and forth as though ghost acrobats were using them. The crowd cheered.

Dick leapt again, catching each rope with perfect timing. He reached his original platform and stopped.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Our Flying Grayson will now attempt the quadruple flip, never before done by a solo acrobat.”

Bruce stole a glance at Damian. He was sitting on the edge of his seat, transfixed on the scene before him. Bruce smiled and turned his attention back to the performance.

Dick swung out again, once, twice, and on the third, released the trapeze. He flipped through the air, his body a tight ball. One! Two! Three! Four! He stretched out again, arms extended to catch the trapeze.

But it wasn’t there.

The crowd gasped as he plummeted. Halfway to the ground, the spot following him lit upon the trapeze, several feet below where it had been. He caught it, whirling around it. He spun in the air until he stood upon the swinging bar, one arm stretched to the crowd, smiling brightly as the trapeze rose back into place.

The crowd roared. Damian jumped to his feet, applauding. Bruce sat stunned, clapping with the rest, unable to take his eyes off Dick Grayson.

After the show, Bruce took Damian back to the trailers behind the circus, trying to find Dick. Damian hadn’t stopped talking about him since the show had ended. One of the animal handlers directed them to Dick’s trailer, and a moment later, Bruce knocked on his screen door.

Dick came to the door, a towel around his neck, still in his suit and performance makeup. “Hello?”

“Bruce Wayne,” Bruce said, by way of introduction. “And this is my son, Damian. We just wanted to congratulate you on a wonderful performance.”

Dick smiled. “Thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Will you come for dinner one night?” Damian asked, startling Bruce and Dick.

“Damian, I don’t think we should impose—”

“I want to know how you did that,” Damian continued.

Dick laughed. “Years of training, that’s all.” He looked up at Bruce. “I won’t say no to an invitation, if you ask me.”

Bruce smiled. “Then we’d love to have you. Will you come to dinner?”

“Tomorrow’s dark, so will that work?”

“Of course. We look forward to it.” Bruce squeezed Damian’s shoulder. “Come on, Damian. Let’s go.”

Damian nodded, his attention still on Dick, and let his father lead him away. Dick waved as they left, Damian waving awkwardly back at him.

On the drive home, Damian couldn’t stop talking about Dick.

“And you thought the circus was beneath you,” Bruce said.


End file.
